Comprehensive SWOT Analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo – An Italian International Banking Group

Updated on: Jan 7, 2022
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We previously discussed the SWOT Analysis of BNP Paribas, one of the world’s largest banks committed to a sustainable economy. This time, we’ll go through the SWOT analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo in extensive detail.

Intesa Sanpaolo is a multinational banking firm based in Italy. It is Italy’s and the world’s 27th largest bank by total assets. It is a firm dedicated to helping the economies of the nations in which it works, particularly in Italy, where it aspires to be a role model for sustainability, social and cultural responsibility.

Another factor that has helped Intesa Sanpaolo become the juggernaut it is today is its marketing tactics. Marketing is evolving as the world moves online, and if you want to stay up to date, check out our Free MasterClass on Digital Marketing 101 taught by Karan Shah, the CEO and Founder of IIDE.

Do you want to know how Intesa Sanpaolo was able to achieve such success in the banking industry? We shall study the SWOT analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo and discover the solution in this blog. But first, let’s study more about Intesa Sanpaolo as a firm, its foundation, products, financial situation, and competitors.

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About Intesa Sanpaolo 

SWOT Analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo - Intesa Sanpaolo

Intesa Sanpaolo was created in 2007 when Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI merged, although its corporate identity dates back to 1583 when it was founded as Istituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino. With a market capitalization of €41.1 billion, the Intesa Sanpaolo Group is one of Europe’s largest banking firms

In all business categories including retail, corporate, and wealth management, Intesa Sanpaolo is the market leader in Italy. The group serves 13.5 million clients through a network of roughly 4,200 branches strategically located throughout the nation, with market shares of at least 12% in most Italian regions. The bank has a significant international presence with roughly 1,000 branches and 7.1 million customers in 27+ countries.

Quick Stats on Intesa Sanpaolo
Founder Banca Intesa Sanpaolo IMI
Year Founded 2007
Origin Grattacielo Intesa Sanpaolo, Turin, Italy
No. of Employees 105,603
Company Type Public
Market Cap $53.80 Billion (2022)
Annual Revenue $20.326 Billion (2021)
Net Income/ Profit $4.290 Billion (2021)

 

SWOT Analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo - Intesa Sanpaolo Bank


Products & Services by Intesa Sanpaolo

Here are some products and services Intesa Sanpaolo has to offer:

  • Investment banking
  • Investment management
  • Private banking
  • Public finance
  • Retail banking


Competitors of Intesa Sanpaolo

  • Mediobanca
  • ING
  • Unicredit
  • BNP Paribas
  • BNLTech


Now since we learned about the bank, let us have a look at the SWOT Analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo.


SWOT Analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo

SWOT analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo is an examination of the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This allows the organisation to understand its market position, as well as what areas need to be addressed and where it can shine. It also aids the corporation in strategizing its business framework and elements affecting its growth.

To better understand the SWOT analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo, refer to the infographics below:

SWOT Analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo - SWOT Infographics of Intesa Sanpaolo

Below is a step-by-step detailed guide to help you with the SWOT analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo.

Strengths of Intesa Sanpaolo

Intesa Sanpaolo, being one of the industry’s leading corporations has several advantages that enable it to prosper in the marketplace. These advantages not only assist it in retaining market share in existing areas but also in expanding into new ones.

  • Wide Network: Intesa Sanpaolo bank has a wide area of the network around the globe with its 5,201+ branches spread across Italy and abroad in the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Russia, India and China, which serves more than 20.6 million clients. With 5600 branches in Italy, it is the country’s largest in terms of branch count.
  • Broad Range of Portfolio: One biggest strength that Intesa Sanpaolo has is that it offers a wide range of financial and consulting services to its customers ranging from investment banking, asset management, private banking and insurance.
  • Strong Corporate Social Responsibility: The company maintains its image by fulfilling its social responsibility by making corporate donations, partnerships and giving a solid and sustainable creation and distribution of value.
  • Sustainability: The group is working towards Italy’s sustainable development by bringing emerging technologies such as Techstars smart mobility. Such sustainable developments show the devotion of the group towards the country.
  • Automation of Activities: Successful automation of banking activities with a well-developed IT structure and Infrastructure has made the overall efficiency better.    
  • Strong Digital Marketing Strategy: With a very strong online presence on every social media site has built a strong customer relationship. Want to know how social media works as a strength for Intesa Sanpaolo? Then you must check out the benefits of social media marketing to get the answer to your query.


Weaknesses of Intesa Sanpaolo

A company’s weaknesses keep it from realizing its greatest potential. To assist the company to excel in all areas, one should assess the weaknesses and seek to improve them. 

  • Not in Country’s Leading: Due to its majority of income coming from retail and personal banking only, it somehow lags in presence in Europe and other continents compared to leading European banks.
  • Cyber Security: As a wide range of transactions and services are done online, the use of Intesa Sanpaolo’s online platforms is quite risky where it is difficult to track a fraud transaction or a cybercrime.
  • Cash Flow Problems: There is a lack of proper monetary planning at Intesa Sanpaolo in regards to cash flows, leading to certain situations where there isn’t suitable cash flow as needed leading to unnecessary unplanned borrowing.
  • Need to Invest More in New Technologies: According to the country’s scale of expansion and the geographical areas Intesa Sanpaolo needs to invest more funds in technology to coordinate the processes across the board. Currently, the investment in technology is not on par with the vision of the company.


Opportunities for Intesa Sanpaolo

Opportunities are external variables that work in the company’s favour, and the company can take advantage of them to grow.

  • Moderate Growth Rate: Following a moderate growth rate in the business, a financial uptick and increase in client spending provide an opportunity for Intesa Sanpaolo to attract new clients and increase its share of the total industry.
  • Expansion to Other Global Markets: The company is planning to expand to more developing countries as well as the Middle East nations too such as Abu Dhabi. This serves them as an opportunity to acquire a new customer base.
  • Development of Technology: Since the FinTech industry is growing at a very rapid pace, there are advancements in technologies too. Using these kinds of technologies can increase efficiency and decrease cost.
  • Interest Rate: Lower interest rates than compared to previous years provides an opportunity for Intesa Sanpaolo to undergo expansion projects that are financed with loans at a cheaper interest rate.
  • Low Inflation Rate: The low inflation rate can bring more stability in the market and enable credit at a lower interest rate to the customers of Intesa Sanpaolo.


Threats to Intesa Sanpaolo

Threats are external elements that may have an impact on the bank. To avoid inflicting damage to the company, these concerns should be addressed as quickly as feasible. The threats to Intesa Sanpaolo are as follows:

  • Global Competitors: If Intesa Sanpaolo wants to expand their business around the world, they have to be careful of what policies they make or how they provide their services in the foreign market or how they market themselves, where already existing local banks are what the people trust in. 
  • Increased Marketing Efforts: Due to the rise of digital marketing, there is an increasing number of promotional messages which are being sent by competitors. It clutters up the space, which leads to losing out on customers. Intesa Sanpaolo is well versed and trying to adopt a variety of the latest digital marketing skills to get ahead of the competition. You must also check out these skills to achieve the same.
  • Uncertain Conditions: The dynamic market environment makes it difficult not for a bank but for every company to be vigilant and to take precautions before any crisis occurs. One other example of an uncertain condition is the Covid pandemic which made most businesses go on a complete shutdown and only visioners were and can take advantage of such situations.
  • Financial Risks: Because the company operates in several countries, it is subjected to currency fluctuations, which are exacerbated by the world’s increasingly volatile political climate in a variety of industries.
  • Cyber Security: It’s been one of the major risk factors in the financial sector. It is a must for financial systems to have the ability to withstand this cyber-attack by increasing IT  monitoring and control.

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Now that we have come to the end of this thorough SWOT Analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo. Let’s see the summation of this article in the conclusion.

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To Conclude

Intesa Sanpaolo is a well-known financial services firm with a global reach. The SWOT analysis of  Intesa Sanpaolo revealed that the firm is strongly reliant on its consumers and has great brand recognition and trust. It has a strong sustainable foundation and has a presence in all of the areas it services, but profits and losses have been variable in recent years.

With rising competition in a saturated industry like finance, corporations are left to fight it out by improving their marketing efforts to win over their customers. Being well-versed in digital marketing is a requirement for all marketing enthusiasts in today’s shifting scene, where it is of vital significance. If you want to learn more and improve your skills, take a look at our 3 Months Advanced Digital Marketing course where you can learn everything about digital marketing in-depth just like this case study. 

We hope this blog on the SWOT Analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo has given you a good insight into the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You can also read our comprehensive study on the SWOT Analysis of JP Morgan Chase.

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Aditya Shastri

Lead Trainer & Head of Learning & Development at IIDE

Leads the Learning & Development segment at IIDE. He is a Content Marketing Expert and has trained 6000+ students and working professionals on various topics of Digital Marketing. He has been a guest speaker at prominent colleges in India including IIMs......[Read full bio]

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